Vaned wash basket



E. DxMOREY VANED WASH BASKET April 17, 1962 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Sept.15, 1960 HIS ATTORNEY 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Sept. 15, 1960 INVENTOR.EVERETT 0. M REY By M ms ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,029,623 VANEDWASH BASKET Everett D. Morey, Louisville, Ky., assignor to GeneralElectric Company, a corporation of New York Filed Sept. 15, 1960, Ser.No. 56,145 2 Claims. (Cl. 68-4) This invention relates to automaticclothes washing machines and more particularly to an improved vanedclothes-containing basket formed tobe secured on the agitator of avertical axis washing machine for effecting the washing of very smallloads of clothing.

Conventionally, vertical axis washing machines include aclothes-containing basket with an agitator extending upwardly therein,the basket being large enough to accept several pounds of clothing(generally in the range of 8-10 pounds) so that a satisfactory washingeffect can be obtained on a sizable quantity of clothes. In order towash very small quantities of clothing without the use of un-- dulylarge amounts, of water and detergent, it has been proposed, incopending application (now forfeited) Serial No. 6,037, filed Februaryl, l960. by John Bochan, and assigned to. General Electric Company, theassignee of the present invention, to elfect the desired result byproviding a small imperforate basket secured on the top of a movingagitator so that the agitator will impart a washing motion to the basketthereby to cause clothes therein to be washed. The Bochan applicationfurther contemplates the provision of a continuous supply ofdetergent-containing liquid into the small basket, with the overflowthen passing into the larger basketand being pumped back into the smallbasket so that the liquid is continually circulated in this manner.

It will be recognized that in most washing machines of the type havingan agitator extending up on a substantially vertical axis into a washbasket, the agitator is of the type which oscillates on its axis; It isfurther a well known fact that the optimum wa'shingefifect for clothescontained in a basket is generally obtained when the liquid in thebasket is caused to circulate in a substantially toroidal path.

Accordingly, it is a prime object of my invention to provide, in thetype of structure set forth in the Bochan application and for use on anoscillating agitator, an annular basket formed to provide therein thedesired toroidal circulation of water. I I

It is a further more specific object of my invention to provide two setsof vanes, one on the inner wall of the annular basket and one on theouter wall of the annular basket, which varies will cooperate so as toprovide the desiredtoroidal circulatory'path of liquid in the basket.

A further specific object of my invention is to-achieve this desired.goal by forming the inner vanes so that they direct'liquidcentrifugally outwardly upon oscillation of the basket (as a result ofits being secured to an oscillating agitator) and to'form the outervanes so that they then takethis liquid moving outwardly and direct itupwardly along the outer wall of the basket thereby to effect thedesireditoroidal path. 7 j A s In one aspect of my invention, I providemy improved basket which, as stated, is for use in a vertical axisclothes washing machine of the type which has a relatively large liquidreceptacle with a movably mounted agitator extending upwardly thereinto,the machine further being provided with means for efiectinganoscillatory motion of the agitator on its axis. The basket is relativelysmall compared to the liquid receptacle, and has susbtantiallyirnperforate inner, outer, and bottom walls formed so as to provide the;basket with an annular shape. A first plurality of'vanes extends intothe basket from the inner wall adjacent the bottom wall, and is formedso as to direct liquid contained in the basket in a generally radiallyout- 3,029,623 Patented Apr. 17, 1962 ward path by centrifugal forceduring oscillation of the eluding portion of this specification. Theinvention itself,

however, both as to its organization andmethod of operation, may be bestunderstood by reference to the following description taken inconjunction with the accompanying drawings;

In the drawings,

FIGURE 1 is a side elevational view of a clothes wash ing machineincluding my invention, the view being partially broken away andpartially in section to illustrate details;

FIGURE 2 is a plan view of the washing basket of my invention;

FIGURE 3 is an enlarged view along line 3-3 in FIGURE 2; v FIGURE 4 is aview along line 4-4 in FIGURE 2;

' FIGURE 5 is a view along line. 5-5 in'FIGURE 4;

FIGURE 6=is a view along line 66 in FIGURE4; and

FIGURE 7 is a view along line 77 in FIGURE 4.

Referring now to FIGURE '1 for a description of the appearance cabinet 5which includes a cover 6 hingedly mounted in the? top portion 7 of thecabinet providing access throughan opening 8 to the basket 2. At thecenter of the; basket 2 there is positioned a vertical axis agitator 9which includes a center post It and aplurality of curved watercirculating vanes 'll joined at their lower ends by. an outwardly flaredskirt 12. Both the clothes basket 2 and the agitator 9 are rotatably.mounted. The basket is mounted on a flange 13 of a rotatable hub 14, andthe agitator 9 is mounted on a shaft (not shown) which ex-' tendsupwardly through the hub 14 and through thecenter post 10 and is securedto the agitator so as to drive .it.

During the cycle of operation of the machine 1, the agitator is firstoscillated back and forth on its axis, that is. in a horizontal plane,within the basket to wash the clothes therein, While'the frequency andamplitude of the oscillation may be varied, one typical type ofoscillating stroke which may be used is a stroke of 160 at a frequencyofcycles per minute. After a predetermined period of this washing action,the basket 2 is rotated at high speed to extract centrifugally thewashing liquid from the clothes and discharge it to drain as will beexplained. Following this extraction operation a supplyof clean liquidis introduced into the basket-for rinsing the clothes and the agitatoris again oscillated; Finally, the basket is once more rotatedat highspeed to extract the rinse water.

The basket 2 and agitator 9 may be driven by any suit able means, and byway of example I have shown themas, driven from'a reversible motor 15.Motor 15 drives the basket and the agitator through a drive including aclutch 16 mounted on the motor "shaft. The clutch allows the tities intothe tub 4 and basket 2.

' 3 and a solenoid member 20 is provided in order to achieve thetwo-speed operation.

Specifically, in the illustrated machine, when solenoid 2G isde-energi-zed clutch 16 provides a direct drive between motor 15 andpulley 19, and when solenoid 20 is energized clutch 16 provides a.reduced speed drive to pulley 19. A two-speed clutch of this type,particularly suited for use in the illustrated machine, is described indetail and claimed in Patent 2,869,699 issued to John Bochan on January20, 1959, and assigned to General Electric Company, assignee of thepresent invention.

The transmission 18 is so arranged that it supports and drives both theagitator drive shaft and the basket mounting hub 14. When motor 14 isrotated in one direction the transmission causes the agitator 9 tooscillate in a In order to introduce fresh water to the machine, a

suitable conduit 21 is provided having an outlet opening into the tub 4so that suitable washing and rinsing liquid (normally water) may beintroduced in thedesired quan- It will, .at this point, be noted that,in the preferred construction shown, the perforations 3 of basket 2cause the interior of the :basket to be in full communication with thepart of the tub which'is exterior to the basket 2 so that the liquidlevel in both the basket 2 and the tub 4 is the same; thus, as the waterrises in one it will also rise-in the other. I With this type ofstructure, suitable means may thus be provided in the tub to determinewhen the appropriate water level in the basket has been reached.

In the present case, this structure is providedin a convent-ional mannerby means of atube 22 which extends from an opening 23 adjacent thebottom of tub'4 up to a pressure sensitive water level control 24 whichmay be of the conventional type usedextensively in commerciallyavailable laundry machines at the present time. In effect, in this typeof water level control an electric switch is included in device 24, andthe switch is operated in response to an increase of the air pressurewithin conduit 22, the increase in the air pressure coming as a resultof compression of the air by a rise in the level of the water in tub 4.A further conventional and commercially available embodiment of levelcontrol 24 is the provision of means for varying the points at which'the switch is closed by the air pressure so that any one of severaldifferent air-pressures may be selected for the closing of the switch.In this manner, different levels within tub 4 may be selected bymovement of dial 25 to difierent posoitions. For purposes which arefully described herebelow, I prefer touse a four-position control 24:one position provides a level which substantially fills the basket 3; asecond setting provides about /s of a full basket; a third setting shutsoff the incoming water when it reaches about half theheight of basket 3;and the fourth level, which will be more fully. discussedherebelow shutsoff the incomingwater when it reaches a'very low level in the tub whichmay well not even rise to the bottom of the basket.

" In the directionofrotation which is provided for wash ing operations,the motor 15 drives'a pump 26 through a flexible coupling 27 intheappropriate direction to discharge liquid from the bottom of the tub 4into a conduit 28 which leads to a nozzle 29. Nozzle 29 is positionedrelative to a filtering member 30 secured on the top of agitator 9 so asto be movable therewith'so that liquid Electric Company, assignee isrecirculated by the pump 26 up to conduit 28 and out of nozzle 29 intothe oscillating filter pan 30. It will be observed that the filter panhas a substantial number of small openings 31 formed therein so that thewater coming from nozzle 29 passes down throught the openings. Thefilter pan 3%} with its many small openings 31 and its upstanding sidewall 32 causes the lint which is separated from the clothes during'thewashing operation to be filtered outof the water and thus prevents itfrom being redeposited on the clothes. This type of structure is morefullydescribed' and claimed in Patent 2,481,979 issued to Russell H.Colley on September 13, 1949, and assigned to General Electric Company,owner of the present invention. f.

Also secured on the-agitator9 so as to move therewith is aclothescontaining basket-33 which is small relative to basket 2 and tub4. Except for overflow openings 34 adjacent the top thereot and one ormore conventional very small openings 34a which may be provided indepressions 3412 at the bottom 34c thereof for removal of heavy soil,basket 33 is imperforate. The basket is formed,v as shown at 35, withvanes which extend out- The basket 33 is positioned below filter pan30'so that,

water which is. pouredinto the filter pan from nozzle 29 passes throughthe openings 31 in the .filter pan down into the basket 33. Thus, ineffect the filter pan effects a filtering action on the water prior toits entry into the basket 33 and, in addition, forms a clothes retaininglid for the basket. 'Filter pan 30 and basket 33 are, preferably,removab-ly positioned on agitator 9 so that they may be removed when sodesired (for instance, for the insertion of clothes into backet 2) andreadilyreplaced on the agitator secured thereto so as to move therewith.It will, however, be obvious that, depending upon the size of theopening into the basket 2 around the pan 30 and basket 33, it may not benecessary to make the basket and pan removable.

Completing the description of machine 1, when enough washing hasbeenprovided and it is intended to remove the washing liquid from theclothes, the direction 'of rotation of motor 15 is reversed. Asdescribed above, this causes the basket 2 and agitator 9 to rotatetogether at a relatively high speed so as to centrifuge the washingliquid out through openings 3. The washing liquid thus removed is causedby pump 26, rotating in the reverse direction to the previous directionthereof, to discharge into a conduit 37. Conduit 37 is adapted fordischarge to a stationary tub or drain line (not shown) so that the pumpis effective to drain tub 4. While any suitable "pump may be used fordraining purposes, the one generally described hereabove isrepresentative and is described in detail in Patent 2,883,843, issued toJohn Bochan on April 28, 1 959, and assigned to General ElectricCompany, assigneeof the present invention.

It will be understood that the machine 1 is provided with a suitableelectrical sequence control arrangement which causes the machine to passthrough an appropriate cycle of operations, first Washing the clothes,next extracting the water from them, then rinsing the clothes in cleanwater, and finally extracting the rinse water from the clothes.Whilemany suitable arrangements are well known in the art, one typicalsystem which may be used is that described and illustrated in theaforementioned Bochan application Serial No. 6,037. r

In view of the complete description of the operation of a machine ofthis type provided in the aforementioned Bochan application Serial No;6,037, it is believed sufi'icient to give a brief description of theoperation of the lies in the particular form of the basket 33. Asstated, the control member may be used to provide four different waterlevels in tub 4, three of them being operative to provide water withinbasket 2 and one of them being at such low level within tub 4 that thereis insufficient water in basket 2 to provide any washing action. Thislow water level is provided when it is desired to use the small basket33 to wash a very small load. This generally occurs when delicategarments, of the type which constitute a small minority of all clothesworn, must be washed and there is an insufiicient quantity to justifythe use of the large basket 2. When such a load is to be washed, thesmall basket 33 is placed on the agitator mechanism as shown, and thefilter pan is then placed over the small basket so as to close the topthereof without preventing the provision of water thereto throughperforations '31 in the filter pan.

When the low level selected is reached, water ceases to enter throughoutlet 21 and the motor 15 starts operation in the direction suitablefor moving the agitator mecha- ,nism. .As described, this also causespump 26 to operate in the direction to pump water up through conduit 28and out from nozzle 29 into the filter pan 30, the water then passingthrough the openings 31 in the filter pan and down into the basket 33.Because basket 33 is substantially imperforate the water quicklyrises'therein regardless of the fact that the basket 2 does not have anywater or virtually no water in it. The water continues to rise in thebasket 33 until it reaches substantially the level of overflow outlets34. Then, both because the water level is near the outlets 34 andbecause of the substantial amount of movement of small basket 33 (sinceit is secured to the moving agitator), water flows and splashes outofthe openings 34. This water then passes down into the large basket 2and, because of the perfo rated nature of the large basket 2, back tothe bottom of tub 4 where the pump 26 again recirculates the water intothe small basket 33.

Referring now to FIGURES 2-7, and more particularly initially to FIGURE2, the formation of my improved basket 33 will be described in detail.It will be recalled that the basket is formedso that the vanes 35'extend outwardly from the inner wall 36. While these vanes may takeanyappropriate shape (for instance extending directly radially outwardfrom the axis on which the basket rotates), I prefer to form them asshown in a spiral shape which provides, in effect, a pocket 38 betweeneach two adjacent vanes 35. With this'shape of the vanes 35, acounterclockwise direction of rotation of the basket 33, as shownbyarrow B in FIGURE 2, will cause the spiral vanes 35 to push water in agenerally radially outward direction relative to the axis of rotation tothe basket; because the vanes 35 are located near bottom 340, thisoutward push occurs primarily along the bottom 340 of the basket.Rotation in the opposite or clockwise direction, as shown by arrow A,does not have this effect; in fact, there is a small tendency as aresult of the formation of the pockets 38 for water to be movedvertically upwardly adjacent the inner wall 36 of the basket. However,this tendency is very slight, and as will be explained herebelow iscounteracted by appropriate means on the outer wall 39 of the basket. 7

On the outer wall 39* I provide a number of vanes 40 which preferably,although not essentially, are the same in number as the,vanes-j35 'f "neparticular configuration of each vane 40 can best be understood byreference to FIGURES 3 through 7 in conjunction with FIGURE 2. Each vane40 includes a face 41 which is formed so that 'it slants radially inwardfrom the top 42 of the vane to the bottom 43 of the vane. This willfurther be understood by particular reference to FIGURES 5, 6, and.7.FIGURE 5, which is a view through the vane 40 near the top thereof,shows that at that height the face 41 is formed so that it is relativelysmall and curves rapidly back toward the outer wall 39. However, aboutthe middle of the vane, as shown in FIGURE 6, the curva- 6 ture backtoward the outer wall has been decreased, so that the vane'extendsradially inward to a greater extent than is the case in FIGURE 5. At thebottom of the vane, as shown in FIGURE 7, the face 41 extends forwardeven more. j a

In addition, the vane preferably also slants radially inwardly relativeto a clockwise direction of rotation as shown by the arrow A in FIGURE3, i.e the slant of face 41 is convergent with the spiral of the closestinner vane 35. This is clearly shown both in FIGURE'Z and all threeFIGURES 5, 6, and 7, wherein it is shown that, relative to a circularouter wall and moving in the direction of arrow A, the face 41 slantsinwardly at an acute angle to the wall over its entire length.

Each vane 40 is also preferably provided'with a face 44 which, relativeto the opposite direction of rotation as shown by the arrow B, isslanted in the same manner that face 41 was slanted relative to thedirection of arrow A. In other words, face 44 slants radially inwardlyfrom its top to its bottom and radially inwardly relative to thedirection of rotation B. Face 44 preferably is not as large as face 41,which extends the entire height of the vane;'rather, as can be seen inFIGURES 2 and 4, face 44 extends upwardly only a small part of thevertical distance of the vane and then merges into the outer Wall 39.

Also facing toward the arrow B is a face 45 which preferably extendsupwardly so as to be substantially at a right angle to the outer wall.While this face may have a curvature relative to a vertical axis, in thepreferred form and for ease of manufacturing where the basket 33 is amolded article, I prefer to have the face 45 formed substantiallystraight up and down as shown in the figures.

Each of the three faces 41, 44, and' 45 of each vane 40 has a specificfunction to perform in cooperation with the action of the vanes 35. Itwill be recalled that the vanes 35 have been described as providing foran outward flow of Water in at least one directionwhich, in thepreferred embodiment shown, is during counterclockwise rotation in thedirection of arrow B. This water then moves outwardly and, as stated,this occurs primarily at the bottom of the basket. When this Waterreaches the outer'wall 39 of the basket, it meets the bottom of theslanting surface of face 41. Because this surface slants both radiallyoutward going in an upward direction, and has a slant causing it toextend into the basket, face 41 catches the water being expelledoutwardly and causes it to change its direction of movement from outwardto substantially upward adjacent the wall 39. This action is enhanced bythe preferred relatively concave formation of face 41 which has theeffect of gently but forcefully changing the direction.

With the water thus directed outwardly by the vanes 35 and upwardlyalong the outer wall 39 by the face '41 of each vane 40, it follows thatthe water is thus provided with a generally toroidal path, since toreplace the Water thus being moved outwardly and upwardly the water atthe top must move inwardly and then downwardly along the vanes 35. Thus,the desired toroidal motion, which has been found to provide a highlyeffective washing action, is achieved within the basket 33. This actioncontinues as long as the rotation of the basket is in counterclockwisedirection indicated by the arrow B.

However, it will be recalled that the movement of the agitator 9 is anoscillating one, and that therefore after the full stroke of thedirection of rotation will be reversed and the agitator and basket willmove in the direction of arrow A. When the direction of rotation is thusreversed, the vanes 35 cease to move the water outwardly as they did inthe previous direction of rotation. In fact, there is a slight unwantedeffect from the pocket 38 tending to push water upwardly along the innerwall 36 which in effect would oppose the toroidal circulation obtainedduring the previous direction of rotation. This effect is offset by thevanes 44 which, in the same manner as vanes 41, tend to pushwaterupwardly along the action of the faces 44.

' cations as 7 the outer wall 39 during clockwise rotation. It has beenfound that vanes 44 tend to oifset the slight push of the pockets 38 sothat there is no substantial amount of toroidal push provided in anydirection during rotation in the direction of arrow A.

There is a further-effect obtained "in the direction of rotation A,provided by faces 45 of the vanes 4i), which is considered of importanceto the washing action as a whole Because these faces 45 aresubstantially at right angles to the-outer wall 39, during'rotation inthe direc tion A they will tend to push the water in a circum ferentialdirectionl, To phrase itdifierently, there is a tendency to ratchet boththe liquid in the basket and the clothes in the basket around in acircumferential direction during rotation in the direction A. Thistendency is furthered by the formation of cups by vanes 35. As stated,the toroidal movement of the clothes is the most important one forproviding the desired washing result. However, it has further been foundthat, in a clothes container as small as the basket 33, there may be atendency with some types of garments for tangling to occur if the motionis purely toroidal. It has further been found that the ratcheting actionprovided by the I faces 45 of vanes intends to inhibit this tanglingthereby enhancing further the total washing effectiveness of theoperation. 7

Thus, to summarize, the vanes 35 and faces 41 cooperate to cause thewater to move outwardly adjacent the bottom 340 of the basket and thenupwardly along the outer wall 39 so as to provide a toroidal circulationof water during rotation in the direction B. During rotation in thedirection A, the vanes 44 offset any undesired effect of the pockets 38to reverse this toroidal motion. Also during rotation in the directionA, the faces 45 cooperate with pockets 38 to provide a ratcheting actionto cause the clothes to move not only in a toroidal path but also in acircumferential path during washing action.

It will be understood that the formation of the vanes to provide atoroidal action is of primary importance in this invention. However,also of importance is the provision of the surfaces 45 to provide theratcheting action, and an added minor but desirable benefit is obtainedby It will be seen from the provides a simple structure in which ahighly desirable circulation of the water and clothes in the basket33'is obtained. It will further be understood that while the precise formof the vanes as illustrated is preferred, other forms may also beprovided so long as they effect the same result. For instance, the innervanes 35 may be formed extending radially outwardly so as to provide acentrifugal and ratcheting action on the water in either direction; insuch a case it might well be desirable to make faces 41 and 44 of thesame size and possibly forego the face 45.

Thus, while in accordance with the patent statutes I have described whatat present is considered to be the preferred embodiment of my invention,it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that various changes andmodifications, such as, for instance (but not exclusively), thatsuggested above, may be made therein without departing from theinvention, and I therefore aim in the appended claims to cover all suchchanges and modififall within the true spirit and scope of theinvention.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the UnitedStates is:

1. For use in a vertical axis clothes washing machine having arelatively large liquid receptacle, a movably mounted agitator extendingupwardly into said receptacle, and means for effecting an oscillatorymotion of said agitator on its axis: a relatively small substantiallyimforegoing that my invention perforate basket adapted to be secured onsaid agitator, said basket being substantially annular with an innerwall, an outer wall, and a bottom wall, said outer wall having anoverflow opening formed therein adjacent the top thereof, a firstplurality of vanes extending into said basket from said inner walladjacent the bottom thereof, each of said first plurality of vanes beingformed in a substantially spiralling form whereby said vanes directwater outward in a generally radial direction by centrifugal forceduring rotation in a direction opposite to wardly substantially at aright angle to said outer wall. so as to extend into the path of liquidduring rotation in the direction of said spiral thereby to provide acircumferential movement to liquid'in said basket.

2. For use in a vertical axis clothes washing machine having arelatively large liquid receptacle, a movably mounted agitator extendingupwardly into said receptacle, and means for effecting an oscillatorymotion of said agitator on its axis: a relatively small substantiallyimperforate basket adapted to be secured on said agitator, said basketbeing substantially annular with an inner wall, an outer wall, and abottom wall, said outer wall having overflow openings formed thereinadjacent the top thereof, a first plurality of vanes extending into saidbasket from said inner wall adjacent the bottom thereof, each of saidfirst plurality of vanes being formed in a substantially spiralling formwhereby said vanes direct liquid contained in said basket in a radiallyoutward path by centrifugal force during rotation in a directionopposite to the direction of said spiral, and a second plurality ofvanes extending into said basket from said outer wall, each said outervane having a first face slanting radially inwardly from its top towardits bottom and slanting radially inwardly from said outer, wall so as toextend into the path of liquid in at each said outer vane further havinga'second face joining said first face at its innermost point, 'and saidsecond face being formed so as to extend upwardly substantially at rightdirection of rotation, each of said inner and outer vanes beingpositioned so-that the spiral of an inner vane and the slanting face ofan outer vane are convergent, each said outer vane having a third faceslanting radially inwardly from its top toward its bottom and radiallyinwardly from said outer wall so as to extend into the path of liquid inthe other direction of rotation, said third face being substantiallysmaller and therefore less effective than said first face.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS BloomMay 12. 1959 least one direction of rotation,.

angle to said outer wall and facing the other

